Automatic machine for producing and dispensing semi-liquid foodstuffs

ABSTRACT

An automatic machine for producing and dispensing semi-liquid foodstuffs, in particular ice creams, has a tank for containing a basic product to be processed to obtain the ice creams, a basic product feed and processing circuit, in communication with the tank to draw out the basic product, one or more dispenser taps positioned at an outfeed end of the feed and processing circuit, actuators for operating the dispenser taps, a check and control unit for the actuators and at least one sensor for detecting the quantity of ice cream dispensed, associated with the control unit and designed to detect at least part of the profile of the ice cream dispensed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an automatic machine for producing anddispensing semi-liquid foodstuffs.

In particular, without limiting the scope of the inventive concept, thepresent invention relates to machines for producing and dispensing icecreams, soft ice creams, yogurt ice creams, sorbets and the like.

As is known, machines of the above-mentioned type, in particular thosefor producing soft ice creams referred to hereinafter by way of example,comprise a tank for containing a liquid mixture to be processed toobtain the finished product, refrigerating means associated with thetank to keep the mixture at a predetermined temperature, a horizontalwhipping and freezing cylinder, to which the mixture is fed by a gearpump, and one or more dispenser taps, positioned on the whipping andfreezing cylinder outfeed front wall. The gear pump pressurizes themixture with air, making the ice cream more or less creamy.

The dispenser taps may be operated manually, or, in the case of theautomatic dispensing machines covered by this invention, they may becontrolled by a control unit operating in conjunction with one or moresensors which detect the quantity of ice cream dispensed.

As is known, said sensors consist of devices designed to detect theweight of the ice cream dispensed, for example load cells.

In other cases there are devices equipped with volumetric sensors ableto control the quantity of ice cream dispensed.

The density of the ice cream is normally electronically controlledduring production to prevent it from varying, for example withvariations in the type of mixture. However, even small variations in thedensity can result in unacceptable variations in the volume of the icecream dispensed.

Moreover, it is important to consider that the types of devicesdescribed above are relatively complex, expensive and present objectivedifficulties in terms of manual and automatic washing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is to produce an automatic machine forproducing and dispensing semi-liquid foodstuffs which is free of theabove-mentioned disadvantage.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an automatic machine forproducing and dispensing semi-liquid foodstuffs comprising the featuresdescribed in one or more of the claims herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is now described, by way of example and withoutlimiting the scope of application, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view, with some parts schematically illustrated asblocks, of an embodiment of the machine in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a top view, with some parts in cross-section, of the machineof FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view, with some parts in cross-section, of the machineof FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are respectively a schematic side view and plan view of aportion of the machine of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an alternative embodiment of what isillustrated in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the numeral 1 denotes as a whole anautomatic machine for producing and dispensing semi-liquid foodstuffs,in particular soft ice creams 2.

The machine 1 comprises a frame 3 which substantially has the shape of aparallelepiped and supports, at the top, a tank 4 for containing a basicproduct, in the form of a liquid mixture, to be processed to obtain theice creams 2. Associated with the tank 4 there is a circuit 5 of arefrigerating system for keeping the mixture at a predeterminedtemperature, in particular around 4° C.

Below the tank 4, the frame 3 supports a horizontal whipping andfreezing cylinder 6, of the known type, to which the mixture is fed by agear pump 7, positioned at the tank 4 and in communication with the tankvia a suction pipe 7 a for drawing the mixture from the tank 4 andsending it by means of a delivery pipe 7 b to a whipping and freezingcylinder 6 infeed 6 a.

Inside the cylinder 6 there is a mixing blade 6 b for the productprocessed, which is driven in rotation about its axis by a variablespeed motor unit 6 c and can push the product towards and into adispenser tap 8 mounted on the whipping and freezing cylinder 6 outfeedfront wall. The dispenser tap 8 is checked and controlled by a controlunit 9 (FIGS. 1, 4, 5 and 6) with an actuator 10 inserted between them.

It should be noticed that the pump 7, the suction pipe 7 a, the deliverypipe 7 b and the cylinder 6 as a whole form a feed and processingcircuit 11 for the above-mentioned mixture.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the control unit 9 also checks and controls,using another actuator 12 inserted in-between, a carriage 13 forsupporting a plate 14 on which a container C is stably rested, forexample a glass, a cup or a cone, into which the ice cream 2 isdispensed.

The plate 14 can move between an upper station A for ice cream 2dispensing and a lower station B from which the ice cream 2 is picked upby the consumer (FIG. 3).

The control unit 9 receives the consent to dispense an ice cream 2 fromany sensor designed to serve the user, for example a coin box 15, orfrom a reader for keys with saved credit, and adjusts the dispensingbased on the information received from a sensor 16 in a predeterminedposition close to the tap 8.

As shown more clearly in FIGS. 4 and 5, the sensor 16 is designed todetect at least part of the profile of the ice cream 2 dispensed andoperates according to a line of action skew relative to the central axis2 a according to which the height of the ice cream 2 extends. The sensor16 may be electro-optical, in particular a photocell, ultrasonic or athermal sensor.

According to the alternative embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, thesensor 16 is of the electro-optical type, in particular a CCD type imagedetector, and operates according to a matrix of action substantiallycentered relative to the central axis 2 a according to which the heightof the ice cream 2 extends.

In the station A the control unit 9 places and holds the plate 14 in apredetermined position relative to the sensor 16 during ice cream 2dispensing.

During operation, after dispensing consent has been supplied by thesensor 15 of any type at the service of the user, the user takes acontainer C from a stack positioned in a suitable magazine—distributor(not illustrated) in the machine 1 and places the container C on theplate 14 which is at the station A, at a predetermined height relativeto the sensor 16 for the size selected.

It should be noticed that, in an automatic form, it is the control unit9 which serves a glass, cone or the like, in the station A by means ofthe plate 14 which, as indicated above, is positioned at thepredetermined height relative to the sensor 16 for the size selected.

In both cases, said height is clearly greater for a small size and lessfor a large size.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, one of the two sensors 16, for example thelower one as seen in FIG. 1, is a container C presence sensor and allowscorrect container C positioning on the plate 14 to be checked. Ifcorrect container positioning is not detected, the sensor 16, by meansof the control unit 9, stops product 2 dispensing. Obviously, thepresence sensor may also consist of any sensor positioned at anotherpoint of the machine but always able to perform the checks describedabove.

Once ice cream 2 dispensing has started, the sensor 16 sends an enddispensing signal when it intercepts the profile of the ice cream 2dispensed. This interception may be optical, ultrasonic or thermal,depending on the type of sensor 16 mounted at the station A.

When ice cream 2 dispensing has stopped, the control unit 9 moves theplate 14 to the station B so that the consumer can pick up the ice cream2.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, in addition to the sensor 16 describedabove, close to the dispenser tap 8 there may be, in a differentposition, for example at a different height and/or a different distancefrom the front of the machine 1, another sensor 16, so that the twosensors 16 can detect at least part of the profile of an ice cream 2dispensed according to respective sizes if the plate 14 is placed in asingle position in the station A, or for more accurate detection of theprofile of the ice cream 2 during dispensing. In the latter case, eachsensor 16 detects a respective part of the profile of the ice cream 2dispensed.

According to other alternative embodiments, not illustrated but withinthe scope of the present invention, close to the tap 8 there may also bemore than two sensors 16.

Finally, mounted on the whipping and freezing cylinder 6 outfeed frontwall there may be two or more dispenser taps 8.

1. An automatic machine for producing and dispensing semi-liquidfoodstuffs, comprising a tank for containing a product to be processedto obtain the products, a feed and processing circuit for said productto be processed, dispensing means positioned at an outfeed end of thefeed and processing circuit, first actuator means for operating thedispensing means, check and control means for the first actuator meansand sensor means for detecting the quantity of product dispensed,associated with the check and control means; wherein the sensor meanscomprise at least one device designed to detect at least part of theprofile of the product dispensed.
 2. The machine according to claim 1,wherein the sensor means are of the electro-optical type.
 3. The machineaccording to claim 2, wherein the sensor means comprise at least onephotocell.
 4. The machine according to claim 2, wherein the sensor meanscomprise at least one CCD type image detector.
 5. The machine accordingto claim 1, wherein the sensor means are of the ultrasonic type.
 6. Themachine according to claim 1, wherein the sensor means are of thethermal type.
 7. The machine according to claim 1, wherein the devicedesigned to detect at least part of the profile of the product dispensedoperates according to a line of action skew relative to the central axisaccording to which the height of the product dispensed extends.
 8. Themachine according to claim 7, comprising means for supporting theproduct dispensed and second actuator means controlled by the check andcontrol means for placing and holding the supporting means in apredetermined position relative to the sensor means during productdispensing.
 9. The machine according to claim 8, wherein the means forsupporting the product dispensed can move between an upper station forproduct dispensing and a lower station from which the product is pickedup by the consumer.
 10. The machine according to claim 9, wherein thesensor means comprise at least two devices designed to detect at leastpart of the profile of the product dispensed; each of the devices beingdesigned to detect at least part of the profile of a product dispensedaccording to a respective size or to detect a respective part of theprofile of a product dispensed.
 11. The machine according to claim 10,wherein at least one of the sensors is for detecting the presence of aproduct container, said sensor sending a signal to the check and controlmeans if the container is missing and/or incorrectly positioned, so asto interrupt product dispensing.
 12. The machine according to claim 1,comprising means for supporting the product dispensed and secondactuator means controlled by the check and control means for placing andholding the supporting means in a predetermined position relative to thesensor means during product dispensing.
 13. The machine according toclaim 1, wherein the sensor means comprise at least two devices designedto detect at least part of the profile of the product dispensed; each ofthe devices being designed to detect at least part of the profile of aproduct dispensed according to a respective size or to detect arespective part of the profile of a product dispensed.
 14. The machineaccording to claim 1, wherein at least one of the sensors is fordetecting the presence of a product container, said sensor sending asignal to the check and control means if the container is missing and/orincorrectly positioned, so as to interrupt product dispensing.